Trench-brace.



No. 898,336. I v PATENT-ED SEPT. s, 1908. I

M. R. DE FRANCE & A. E'. READ.

TRENGH BRAUE.

APPLICATION FILED 13.23.22.1908.

UNITED STATES PATENT 'QFFICE.

MURRELL R. DE FRANCE AND ALBERT E. READ, OF BELLEVUE, PENNSYLVANIA.

TRENCH-BRACE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 8, 1908'.

Application filed April 22, 1908. Serial No. 428,693.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, MURRELL R. DE FRANCE and ALBERT E. READ, residents of Bellevue, in the county of Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Trench- Braces, of which the following is a specification.

The object of this invention is to providea sectional trench-brace shoe, the parts of which fit together and loosely confine the extremity of the brace arm and hold the latter from rotating without interfering with its free angular movement in the shoe.

In the preferred embodiment of the invention, the shoe is formed in two half-sections having meeting faces which extend centrally through the shoe, with transverse rivets securing the sections together, the latter being of such form that both may be cast from thesame pattern. The meeting faces are so recessed as to embrace and loosely but nonrotatively confine the bearing end of the brace arm. By this means a connection is provided which affords the arm all necessary 1 play in the shoe without permitting it to rotate or be withdrawn.

In the accompanying drawings, Figure 1 is a view in elevation of a trench brace con-' structed in accordance with the invention. Fig. 2 is a similar view on a larger scale, one ofthe shoes being shown in elevation, and showing half of the other shoe. Fig. 3 is an elevation of the inner side of one of the shoes, the brace arm being shown in section on line 33 of Fig. 2, and Fig. 4 is a sectional elevation taken on line 44 of Fig. 2. Fig. 5 is an end view of one of the shoes, and Fig. 6 a central cross-section of the same.

The telescoping portions of the brace arms are of well known construction, 2 being the tubular arm and 3 the threaded arm which moves freely therein, with the usual levernut 4 operating on arm 3 and bearing against the extremity of arm 2 for expanding the brace. The bearingends or heads 5 of arms 2 and 3 are of like external form, the only structural difference being that the head for arm 2 is detachably secured thereto at 6, while the head for arm 3 is formed integral therewith. The opposite shoes in which these heads bear are of like construction. In the present adaptation, each shoe is formed of two half sections 7 and 8 which are exactly alike, their meeting faces being at the center of the shoe and extending from the inner side thereof to the outer side or that surface which bears against the trench wall, shorin or other object to which the brace is applied. These meeting faces have complementary recesses 9, which when the sections are together form a cavity which is closed save for opening 10 through the inner side of the shoe. The rear walls of depressions 9 are shaped to form the rounded bearing surface or socket 11. -When the sections thus recessed are put together they embrace and loosely confine the outer portion of head 5. The extremity of the head is rounded at 12 to bear in socket 11, and adjacent this rounded extremity the head is formed with the circumferential enlargement or shoulder 13 which is too large to pass through opening 10, thus preventing the arm and shoe from separating. The arm is held from rotating by lugs 14 cast in recesses 9 and embraced by slots 15 in shoulder13. While rotation is thus prevented, the parts fit loosely and the angular or lateral movement of the brace arm is not interfered with.

The shoe is preferably of elongated or rectangular outline, with rivet passages extending transversely therethrough above and below' the recesses, the ends of the rivet passages being enlarged at 16, with the headed ends 17 of rivets 17 within the recesses and protected against .the hammer-blows frequently applied in driving the opposite shoes into line after the brace has been positioned in a trench or other excavation.

A further feature of the invention is the interlocking of the meeting faces of the sections by means of the V-shaped projections 18 on one face which fits the V-shaped recesses 19 on the other face. These recesses and projections are preferably arranged transversely of the meeting faces and coincident with rivets 17, so that the parts are. securely interlocked at the points where they are secured together. Also, we prefer to reverse the arrangement of the projections and recesses at the two rivet passages, the face of a section having a projection at one passage and a depression at the other passage. The sections may be further interlocked by similar projections 20 and depressions 21, as shown. Thus, the rivets are relieved of all shearing strains, the parts being so interlocked that they cannot move one on the other so long as they are held tightly together.

The shoe sections are exactly alike, both being cast from one pattern, and may be used interchangeably. This is a decided advantage in assembling a number of braces, and lessens the cost. In making repairs any shoe that may be broken may be replaced by any other shoe.

We claim:-

1. In a trench brace, the combination with a brace arm, of a shoe recessed on its inner face to form a socket and on its outer face adapted to bear against a trench wall, the

. shoe being formed of two half sections united on a line extending through the said inner and outer faces thereof, one-half of the bearing socket and one-half of the trench-engaging surface being carried by each section, and means for uniting the sections.

2. In a trench brace, the combination of a brace arm, a shoe open on its inner face and formed in sections with the meeting line of ,the sections intersecting the opening in the inner face and extending from said face to the outer bearing face of the shoe, the meeting faces of the sections recessed to embrace the extremity of the brace arm extending through said open inner face and loosely hold the same from being withdrawn, and. means preventing the arm from rotating in the shoe.

3. In a'trench brace, the combination with a brace arm enlarged at its end, of a shoe formed in two half sections of like form fit ting together and recessed to embrace and loosely confine the arm enlargement with means for securing together the shoe sections.

4. In a trench brace, the combination of a brace arm enlarged at its end, a shoe formed in tWo half sections of like form fitting together, the meeting faces of the sections re-' cessed to embrace and confine the arm enlar em'ent, the latter formed with notches, an lugs carried by the sections Within said recessed faces which enter said notches and prevent rotation of the arm.

5. In a trench brace, the combination of a brace arm, a shoe formed in sections fitting together and recessed on their adjacent faces to embrace and form a bearing for the arm extremity with means securing the sections together, and complementary interfitting projections and depressions on the meeting faces of the sections.

6. In a trench brace, the combination of a brace arm, a shoe formed in sections having meeting faces recessed to embrace the extremity of the arm, the sections having rivet passages crossing the line of the meeting faces with the ends of the passages enlarged,"

and rivets in the passages with their headed ends within the enlargements thereof.

7. In a trench brace, the combination of a brace arm, a shoe formed in sections having meeting faces recessed to embrace the extremity of the arm, the sections having passages for securing devices crossing the line of the meeting faces, securing devices in the passages, I and complementary projections and depressions on the meeting faces with MURRELL R. DE FRANCE.

ALBERT E. READ.

Witnesses:

J. M. NESBIT, JNo. J. FITZGERALD. 

